Hidden Enemy
by Kari-chan-06
Summary: Someone attacks Kate, almost killing her. Why is her blood found on Gibbs´ shirt and just why is his DNA under her nails?
1. Hangover

Hidden Enemy

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Someone attacks Kate, almost killing her. Why is her blood found on Gibbs´ shirt and just why is his DNA under her nails?

---------------------------------------------

1- Hangover

It was the day after Christmas Eve. Snow was falling, covering everything with a soft white blanket. Children were out in the street, playing happily with their Christmas gifts. It was almost idyllic this very morning, except for the police car tearing into the calm neighborhood at high speed, screeching to a stop in front of a house near the end of that street. A few neighbors shot questioning looks at each other, but then returned to their duties. They didn´t know what would soon shake up this peaceful holiday season.

Three men got out of the car, two of them being police officers who drew their guns out as they approached the house. The third man stayed at the car, his face lined with concern. He felt deeply troubled about this situation, but evidence was pointing straight at the man living in this house. Tom Morrow sighed as he watched the two officers doing their job. He knew that investigations would begin soon and he also knew that this would be a tough case for one of his teams at NCIS.

Gibbs woke from the sound of the doorbell and cringed when the bright light of the sun hit his eyes. His head seemed to explode and he groaned as he tried to get up. His limbs were heavy and he could hardly remember what he had done last night to give him such a hangover. He rarely drank anything except for a few glasses of scotch when he worked on his boat. He didn´t remember drinking anything alcoholic at all during the party and wondered why he felt like crap this morning.

Someone was now banging on his door and he started to be really annoyed by that. "Just a minute." He called and opened his eyes completely. He was still wearing the same clothes as the evening before and wondered about the stains that seemed to be just about everywhere. Stains on his shirt, on the cover, even on his pillow. His brain was too dazed to come to any conclusion yet, something that rarely ever happened. He almost fell down the stairs and pulled open the front door, wincing slightly when the bright sun shone directly into his face. It temporarily blinded him and didn´t give him the chance to see who was out there.

"Mr. Leroy Jethro Gibbs?" A voice asked, but Gibbs couldn´t see the face as he still had bright spots from the light dancing in front of his eyes. He tried to blink, but couldn´t see more than two shadows on his front porch.

"Yes, that would be me." He replied after a moment and found himself handcuffed a few seconds later. He hadn´t seen it coming and the splitting headache slowed his reflexes quite a bit today. He was thrown against the wall next to his front door and his head seemed to explode. He groaned in pain and felt one of the men running his hands down his body. They were searching him for weapons, that much he realized.

"I arrest you for the attempted murder of Miss Caitlin Todd. Everything you say or do can and will be used against you. You will be taken over by NCIS agents, until then you are in our custody." The officer said as he held him against the front door. He quickly searched him for weapons, knowing that he carried a Sig Sauer as an NCIS agent, but found none. "Jim, secure the house, those NCIS people should be here soon. Mr. Morrow insisted on sending one of his teams to make sure we´re doing our job correctly." He called at his colleague, who nodded.

"What the..." Gibbs managed as he was dragged down his porch. He didn´t really get to object or anything before he was shoved into the police car. He noticed Director Morrow standing next to the car. Hejust looked at him, a sad and concerned look on his face. Gibbs tried to remember the night before, but it was just a blank in his head. He remembered driving to the office for their Christmas party, but he didn´t remember much after that.

Morrow got into the front seat of the car without even looking at him. Gibbs tried to ask what was going on, but there was no reply from either of the two men. His head finally cleared enough that he took a closer look at his shirt and felt nausea dwelling up for a short moment. Those stains were red, like blood. After a 15 minute drive he was handed over to two men wearing navy uniforms and brought to a changing room on the second floor of the NCIS headquarters.

A guard handed him an orange jumpsuit and ordered him to take off his clothes. He did what he was told to do, still too shocked to really understand what was going on. He felt weak and dizzy for some reason, but didn´t pay much attention to it just yet. After 10 minutes he was taken into an interrogation room and shoved into the chair. Gibbs stared at the table and tried to shift into a more comfortable position. His shoulders hurt from being handcuffed again and he tried to process the information he had gotten so far. The words of the officer echoed in his mind and he cringed. He would never hurt anyone he worked with, especially not Kate. This had to be some sick joke.


	2. Interrogation

Hidden Enemy

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Someone attacks Kate, almost killing her. Why is her blood found on Gibbs´ shirt and just why is his DNA under her nails?

---------------------------------------------

2- Interrogation

Tom Morrow walked down into the bullpen and looked around for a moment. He felt troubled since he had gotten that call from the police this morning. Of course, he had asked for the evidence, but there was no doubt about it. He picked up the phone that sat on a desk and dialed a number. "Dinozzo." A very sleepy voice replied after a moment and Morrow guessed that their Christmas party had been rather long.

"This is Tom Morrow. I´m sorry to wake you, but I need you at the office immediately." Morrow said and just got a grunt that sounded like some kind of confirmation. After hanging up again, he placed the same call two more times before walking to the break room. He needed some strong coffee now. It took around half an hour until Timothy McGee walked in, looking a bit under the weather and not very cheerful. Dr. Mallard followed a few minutes later with Anthony Dinozzo on his heels.

All three had a puzzled look on their faces. "What happened? Anyone kill Gibbs?" Tony asked and got a few chuckles for that. He noticed that the director did not smile and searched the room for Kate and Gibbs.

Morrow looked at them in turn and then sighed. "I have to inform you that Special Agent Gibbs has been arrested this morning." He said and their jaws dropped. "His DNA has been found at the site of an attempted murder last night and all evidence is counting against him at the moment."

"Gibbs killing someone?" McGee piped up, still looking incredulous. "That´s a joke, right? He´d never kill an innocent person."

The rest nodded and their eyes widened even more when Morrow continued. "The woman he obviously tried to kill was Special Agent Todd. She was found in her car at 5 am by a jogger. She has been stabbed twice into the chest and her condition is critical. I know that you are probably emotionally involved on this case, but I need the best team I have for this. There is a team from the police checking all evidence as well, so don´t even think about tampering with it. I need clean results of everything. Either clear your boss or convict him. He´s waiting up in interrogation room 4. Miss Sciuto should arrive soon, I have sent the evidence directly to the lab." Morrow said and walked out on them.

"There´s no freakin´ way." Tony exclaimed and slammed his hand onto the desk, causing a pen to roll off the edge. "Not Gibbs."

"I believe we should look at this objectively. I doubt that Jethro could hurt anyone, especially Kate, but we need to consider all evidence presented. If his DNA was found in her car -or even on her clothes, we need to find out how it got there. Anthony, why don´t you go up with Timothy and start interrogation. Check with the police to get an idea of what happened. I shall check with the hospital and see how Caitlin is doing." Ducky said and somehow felt like he had to take over command.

Half an hour later, McGee walked into the observation room, recoiling at the sight of his boss in an orange jumpsuit, handcuffed and obviously confused. He watched as Tony entered the other room. There was something like a glimpse of hope in Gibbs´ eyes for a moment until he seemed to note the seriousness on Dinozzo´s face.

Tony sat down on the chair opposite to his boss and just looked at him for a moment. Gibbs looked like hell, dark circles under his eyes, hair messed up, dressed in an orange jumpsuit like those they gave prisoners. He fought hard to keep his professionalism up and not get too much emotionally involved. "Why?" He asked and saw a look full of questions.

"Why what? I don´t even know what I´m supposed to have done. Look, I don´t remember a thing after I came to that party last night." Gibbs finally snapped at him and bit his lip as he tried to move a bit. His shoulders felt like they were on fire. "Tony, can you please take the handcuffs off?" He pleaded and a moment later a guard came in. The handcuffs were taken off and he rubbed his aching shoulders.

"Thanks, that would be all for now." Dinozzo said and the man disappeared again. "Now, tell me what you remember." He told his boss and felt really bad about having to interrogate him, but he was determined to get this down like any other interrogation. He had talked to the police to get an overview. Kate had been found at 5 am by a young man who lived in the neighborhood. She had been stabbed twice, from what the EMTs and the doctors estimated, it had happened around 2 am, which was about half an hour after she had left the party at 1:30 am.

Several people, including Tony himself, hadn´t seen Gibbs around after about 1 am. The police had found skin under Kate´s nails, matching his DNA, as well as a knife in a trash can nearby that had his fingerprints on it. So far, evidence was counting against him. "I...I went to that Christmas party at the office -you were there too, you saw me. I talked to Ducky about him being there and his mother being alone. I went outside to get some fresh air, but I don´t remember anything from that... How is Kate? Will she be okay?"

Tony sighed. "Can´t tell you, sorry." He said and looked at the file in front of him. "Can you remember when you went outside?" He continued and scribbled down some notes, his hand shaking badly. This was really getting him down. He didn´t dare to meet the ice blue eyes he knew were resting on him this second.

"I don´t know. I remember Abby dancing on a table shortly before, but no time." Gibbs said and took a deep breath. His head still throbbed and he saw flashes in front of his eyes. "Can I get some water? I don´t feel so good." He watched the room spinning before he slipped off the chair and collapsed on the ground.

Dinozzo jumped up and rushed to his side. "I need some help in here." He said, looking at the mirror and turned Gibbs around, who was unconscious. A few moments later, Ducky came in, carrying a bag and a concerned look on his face. "He said he wasn´t feeling good and collapsed."

Mallard checked his friend and frowned. "I need to get some blood drawn for further testing. It´s either a shock, but Jethro never seemed to be the type for it, or something he ate or drank." He said and pulled a syringe out. "Take this to Abby and have her run a few tests on it. I will make sure that they bring him to the hospital for observation." Ducky told him and continued to check his patient as the younger man ran out with the blood sample in his hand.


	3. Lab Work

Hidden Enemy

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Someone attacks Kate, almost killing her. Why is her blood found on Gibbs´ shirt and just why is his DNA under her nails?

---------------------------------------------

3- Lab work

Abby was working on a shirt stained with blood. Nobody had told her why, but she knew to whom it belonged anyway. The smell of sawdust and coffee stuck to all his clothes anyway. She cut a piece out and put it into the separator. Her hands were shaking as she did so, being worried about this as nobody actually told her why she did this. She had to isolate the blood to get a possible DNA match later on. The elevator opened and Tony came in. "Hey, Abby. Ducky wants you to run this blood. Gibbs just collapsed in interrogation and Ducky wants to make sure he hasn´t been drugged or anything. Has been acting weird, if you ask me. I never saw Gibbs having a blank." He told her and threw a small vial with blood at her.

Abby caught it andmanaged a smile. "He never had a blank in his life -believe me, I would know." She said and put the blood sample on the desk for a moment. The fabric was in the thermocycler and she was just waiting for the results. "What´s going on, Tony? First I get called in on Christmas day, they bring his shirt down here without telling me it´s his and tell me to get the DNA from that blood. I heard Kate´s been hurt..." She seemed confused and he pulled her into a hug.

"Kate was stabbed last night. She´s at the hospital now. Ducky is seeing her at this moment, I think. Police found skin under her nails and it matches Gibbs. He was arrested at home, still wearing that shirt with all the blood on it. Morrow wants us to investigate, so that´s what we´ll do, okay? We need to be careful with all of this, Abbs. He´d want us to be thorough." He replied and looked up as the analyzing device gave a beep.

She nodded, still looking a bit pale and put the results on screen, biting her lip immediately. "The blood matches Kate." She just whispered and buried her face in her hands. This was a nightmare. All evidence was speaking a plain language and it was not in his favor.

Tony took her shoulders. "Check another sample -every single stain if you have to. If there´s as much as a pinch of other DNA on that shirt, I want to know. They said that Kate was stabbed by someone from the driver side of the car, so check the marks if the direction is right or whatever you can think of. He didn´t do it, Abbs, that´s what I think. We just need to find evidence that will support that." He told her and returned to the bullpen. Mallard and McGee were waiting for him.

"Jethro has been brought to Bethesda. He´ll be kept under constant observation for the time being. It looks like a shock, but they will run his blood to be sure." The doctor said and looked troubled.

"The blood on his shirt matches Kate. Gee, I mean, everything looks like he really did it, doesn´t it?" Dinozzo said and dropped onto his chair, brushing through his hair.

"I talked to the witnesswho saw his car. She saiditwasparked behind Kate´s car around 1:45 am. She just walked by with her dog and didn´t see more, but she remembers a black sedan that would match his pretty good. They got a tire print too and it matches the all-seasons he got on his car too. Doesn´t look good, Tony." McGee said and sighed. They had been through bad cases before, but none had been so straining on any of them. It was barely 10 am and he felt like working through the whole night already. "I wish Kate was here to help us..." He pulled out the report from the police again. "I´m lost here, Tony... I try to see a shred of evidence telling us that he didn´t do it, but there´s none."

Tony just nodded. "Let´s go down to the lab. We have to put our heads together with Abby. Maybe her analysis will bring something up. Ducky should be at the hospital for the next few hours." He said and got up. For some reason, he felt tired and worn out already, eventhough it wasn´t quite noon yet. It wasn´t from not sleeping much or having a few drinks, this was different.

There was no music in the lab, which was really odd. Abby sat at her desk and looked at something on the screen. "What you got there, Abbs?" Dinozzo asked and she looked up.

"I´m not sure. There´s something in his blood that shouldn´t be there. I asked the hospital to take another sample and send me the results on it plus I checked with our medical department to get the results from the checkup two months ago. Still waiting for those. I mean, he could have thrown in some Tylenol or anything, but it could be something different as well. How´s it going for you?" She asked and tossed two candy bars at her colleagues. None of them had taken time for breakfast today, so she had pulled out her emergency kit consisting of lots of chocolate.

"Not very much, just putting the picture together." Tony said and pulled a large whiteboard out from behind a curtain. He took the pen and started to write down all information they had so far. "The witness saw Kate´s and Gibbs´ car parked in front of her apartment around 1:45 am. Hospital says she was attacked around 2 am, give or take 10 minutes. Gibbs didn´t remember anything about last night from when he left the building for a short moment. That was after Abby did her table dance...I remember looking at my watch around that time and it was 1 am. It´s a 20 minute drive to Kate´s place. Kate left around 1:30 am. None of them had so much to drink to be unable to drive -most drinks were non-alcoholic anyway." He said and put times and places onto the board. It was going to be a long day and all those happy thoughts usually associated with Christmas were gone.


	4. By the Book

Hidden Enemy

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Someone attacks Kate, almost killing her. Why is her blood found on Gibbs´ shirt and just why is his DNA under her nails?

---------------------------------------------

4- By the book

They had worked with this whiteboard a lot when a case seemed complex or they wanted to rule out anything. "So, let´s say he left at 1 am. That would give him an hour before she was approximately attacked. So he would have had time to get there before her, right?" McGee said and checked the protocol from the interview with the first witness again. "That girl said her car was up the driveway and the sedan was behind it..."

Tony frowned slightly and snatched the paper from him. "Means that she was there first, right?" He said and scratched his head. "That´s just too odd for Gibbs -he´s about the most rational person on this planet. At least as long as he has coffee. I´m either getting old or this is too much for me." He muttered as he felt a slight headache.

"You sound like Gibbs sometimes, you know that?" Abby said silently and smiled a bit. The fax machine started to beep and something a page was printed out. She walked over and looked at it, frowning. "That´s the blood work from the hospital -same result I got. They can´t identify it either, saying it´s either a common cold medication or something that´s volatile and therefore leaving a wrong signal in the analysis." She said. "Gibbs never takes cold meds -he never has a cold..."

Tony put his head onto the desk and tried to sort his thoughts. It was no use if they tried to rule out anything that would count against him in the first place before checking it. "This is not working... let´s just try to be professional about this. If this was just two people who are not our friends, we would be doing this differently. Don´t look at me like that, Abbs. I know it´s not easy to turn off our emotions, but we have to try." He said and took a bite from the chocolate. Normally, he loved chocolate, but today it tasted like sand. Tony kept wondering what made him talk like that.

Abby smiled a bit. "I´m trying, okay? It´s just not really easy to work a case where your best friend was almost killed and the only suspect is your boss." She replied and tossed an empty caf-pow cup into the trash can. Gibbs was more than just her boss, but she wasn´t going to tell them about the past they shared. Both of them had made a vow never to talk about it again and especially Abby didn´t like those memories. On one hand, he had saved her life, but on the other hand, she had lost her whole family at once. She put those thoughts off and tried to concentrate on the task ahead.

"We should do this by the book. Probie, that´s your department, I´d say. Let´s hear something." Tony said after looking around for a moment. He hadn´t done anything by the book ever, in fact, he had hardly touched the textbook at all after graduating. It had worked out just fine until now, but this case was so different he wished he had not burned his old textbook along with other things after getting the job at the Baltimore PD.

"We should go check both cars for traces, then trace back suspect and victim to their last known location, which would be the office and the parking lot. We need to check those places for evidence, get all witnesses in for another interrogation and try to find out what happened when before going back to the whereabouts of suspect and witness." McGee said, still remembering the chapter on scene management from the textbook. He had only been out in the field for a few months now and still did a lot by the book. The rest of the team had developed their own method to solve cases, but he hadn´t gotten there yet.

Dinozzo just nodded and walked out of the lab, back up into the bullpen. He picked up his backpack and pulled out gloves. "I´ll take the office and the trash from last night. You got the parking lot and the surroundings." He told McGee, who was surprised by the fact that he didn´t get to search the trash can. Normally, Tony would have done anything to humiliate him by assigning him to the trash.

After searching the parking lot for almost an hour, McGee returned to the side entrance which they usually used. Main entrance was too far from the parking area and they didn´t bother to make that extra way. He was about to walk back into the building when he noticed something on the ground. It was a piece of cloth, looked like silk and he was about to dismiss it as just that, but then he remembered that they were looking for anything unusual. It could be nothing or it could be the one piece of evidence proving a frame-up. He picked it up and put it into an evidence bag, then returned to the office. Dinozzo was talking on the phone, so he just waited. "What you got there, probie?" He heard his colleagues voice after a moment.

"Some cloth, looks like silk or something similar. It was out near the side entrance. Nothing else except for that though. I´ll have Abby run a check on it." He explained and got a nod. "Who was on the phone?"

"Just Ducky. Kate´s condition is still critical. She lost a lot of blood and remains unconscious. Gibbs is awake again, but still not fit for another interrogation. Keeps saying that he doesn´t remember anything. I´m bound to believe him -not only because he´s our boss. Nothing in the trash, nothing around here either. I have both cars brought in later on for a check -police is done with them, but except for the blood in Kate´s car they found nothing unusual. Abby will check everything again, you know how they work at the PD." Tony said and sighed. They were picking up pieces right now and from the experience he had in this field, this investigation could take days if not weeks. It was time they didn´t have. If Kate died, Gibbs would be charged with murder instead of attempted murder, which was a huge difference.

He started to hate this case -not only because of who was involved. There were so many pieces of evidence pointing straight at Gibbs. In his whole career, Tony had never seen a crime that had been so straight forward and that was odd to his mind. Of course, there was a possibility that Gibbs was guilty, but somehow he wasn´t ready to give in to that yet. There had to be more than they saw at the moment. It was just a gut feeling though.

Both men went out for some coffee and then returned to the office, taking the elevator to the lab. "Anything new, Abbs?" Tony asked, handing her a large cup of caf-pow he had picked up before coming to the lab. She took the cup and shook her head, making her pigtails dance a bit. He had sent the cloth down to her before, but it still sat on the desk, unopened.

Abby looked at the bag and finally opened it. She pulled a face and held the bag away from her face. "Wow... that´s disgusting..." She said and felt a bit lightheaded for a moment. "That´s really odd..." Abby shook the strange feeling off and started to cut the cloth up for further analysis. "Oh, I got the blood results from two months ago -just about what you would expect from Gibbs. Too much coffee, too much stress, but this one peak wasn´t there." She pointed at the third peak in the analysis diagram that was still displayed on the screen.


	5. Bits and Pieces

Hidden Enemy

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Someone attacks Kate, almost killing her. Why is her blood found on Gibbs´ shirt and just why is his DNA under her nails?

---------------------------------------------

5- Bits and pieces

It was 7 pm by now and they had not found a single piece of evidence that could help clear Gibbs. Ducky had come back with more information on the attack after visiting both at the hospital. He went over it with Tony while McGee took a nap under his desk. They knew that they would be in here for the whole night and longer if necessary. "From the injuries it´s not easy to say how it happened in detail, but if I´m not completely mistaken, the attacker used his left hand. He stood outside her car, next to the driver side. The first stab hit her collarbone and was deflected towards her neck, the second one missed her left lung by half an inch. The angle of impact suggests that the attacker was left-handed as well. It could have been done right-handed, but that would have taken quite some effort. Any way she must have seen her attacker -there is no way he could have hidden his face as she had parked below a lamp and the light in her car would have been on when the door was opened." He said and Tony listened up.

"As far as I know, Gibbs is right-handed. That´s the first good news, Ducky." He said and allowed himself to smile a bit. "What else? How is Gibbs doing?" He asked and started to make some notes about the things he had just been told.

"I believe that he is doing better, but I will go back soon to check on him. They will keep him for at least 24 hours for observation. Abigail told me that there was something in his blood that didn´t belong there, so they might want to keep an eye on that. He seems to have a shock on top of that, I believe the idea that he could have hurt Kate is haunting him. Especially since he doesn´t seem to recall anything from that specific timeframe. Nobody is allowed to see him for the time being, of course, there´s an exception for me." Ducky told him and then waited for further questions, but there were none.

"Okay, when you go see him, tell him we´re doing our best to figure this out. Let me know when Kate wakes up or anything happens." Tony walked straight downstairs where Abby was checking both cars now. She was lying beneath Kate´s car at the moment, only her feet sticking out. "Abby?"

She rolled out and he noticed how tired she looked. "Hey, Tony. Haven´t found much yet. I´m done with Gibbs´ car though. Just a lot of mud stuck under it. Took samples, but those will take about 12 hours to run through analysis. Anything new on your side?" She asked and brushed her bangs out of her face.

"Not much. Ducky reckons the attacker was left-handed. Maybe you can run a simulation on the whole thing as soon as we have all details figured out. Nothing new on Kate either. Did you finish that cloth?" He said and helped her up from the ground.

Abby shook her head and brushed some dirt off her hands. "It´s still running through the analyzer. I don´t think it will come out for the next two or three hours." She yawned and blinked for a moment. "I´m starting to see black spots in front of my eyes. That feels really weird." Reaching for the cup of caf-pow on the table she sighed and tossed the empty cup into the trash can near the elevator.

Tony smiled and put his arm around her. "Go get some sleep. We´re no use to anyone collapsing from exhaustion. McGee is snoring away under his desk already and I think I will hit the office floor as well now. Let me know when you get those results, okay?" He watched her walk into the lab and caught a glimpse of the futon she pulled out of her closet before the doors closed again.

When he walked into the bullpen, McGee was still asleep, so he just updated his notes and rolled up under his desk as well. On one hand he wanted to get this over with quickly, but he knew that none of them would do a good job being as tired. Details could be vital here and they needed to be concentrated to see everything. He fell into a restless sleep.

-same time, Bethesda-

Gibbs stared at the ceiling above him. He had been handcuffed to the rail of the bed and felt downright humiliated. They were treating him like he was a convicted mass murderer. He wasn´t sure what time it was, but it was dark outside already. His headache was almost gone and he felt much better after being put on an IV for most of the day. He wasn´t allowed coffee, but somehow that didn´t really matter. He still couldn´t remember anything from the time he walked out from the party for some fresh air to waking up this morning.

The door opened and someone walked in, closing the door softly behind him. The hat immediately gave the identity of the visitor away and Gibbs sighed. "Coming to visit the condemned , Duck?" He said and tried to make it sound like a joke, but his voice was raspy and gave away how he felt. Nobody had come by, not even Dinozzo, but he had already figured that they were isolating him on purpose. They were afraid that he could get information about the case somehow.

A chair was pulled up and he saw the face of his friend in the dim light next to himself. "Jethro, it is not the time for such jokes. There is nothing you can do at the moment, but I can assure you that investigations are being made at the moment." The older man said and was met by a look full of confusion and anger.

"This is a freakin´ frame-up, Duck. Someone wants me here. And some police officers investigating won´t prove a thing -let alone Balboa and that team of his. They don´t even recognize a suicide when they see one." He replied bitterly and felt helpless. He had never felt like this before, not even during his time in the marine corps. Seeing Tony in interrogation had given him a bit of hope, but knowing the common practices at NCIS, Gibbs knew that they had just sent his agent hoping that he would be more open to him.

Much to his surprise, there was a smile on Mallard´s face now. "I do believe that the NCIS team will do a good job and crosscheck each and every bit of evidence from the police." He said and still saw the doubt in his friend´s eyes. They had known each other way too long to be able to hide such feelings. "They´ve been working since they were assigned this morning. Tom Morrow made sure they were put on this, even though they are emotionally involved since their teamleader is the main suspect."

At these words, Gibbs felt tears burning in his eyes. "What?" He asked almost inaudible. "He...he let...but they..." Words failed him all of the sudden. This was a bit of news he would have never expected. All those feelings he had tried to lock up all day long came rushing back again. He felt relieved to know that his team was working on this. They were thorough, he had taught them to be.

"Yes, he did, Jethro. Your team is conducting the investigations -they are determined to find out what really happened and you know as well as I do that they will. I believe they are still working as we speak, not even bothering that it is close to midnight. I need to leave now, but I shall be back tomorrow." Ducky said and left again. The guard in front of the room just nodded at him and continued to stand in front of the door, not letting anyone pass.


	6. Abby´s Day

Hidden Enemy

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Someone attacks Kate, almost killing her. Why is her blood found on Gibbs´ shirt and just why is his DNA under her nails?

---------------------------------------------

6- Abby´s Day

Tony awoke from the sound of someone calling his name. He moaned and tried to ignore it, but then someone started to shake him. "Tony, get up, lazy bones. You have to see this!" It was Abby, looking excited. She had dark circles under her eyes as she had barely slept 3 hours last night, but it didn´t matter.

"Whadde... oh, hi Abby. What you got?" He got up and stretched. McGee was getting up as well, looking crumbled and stiff.

She pulled the chemical analysis up on the big plasma behind Gibbs´ desk. "The stuff on there is chemical and highly volatile, but I got enough to match it with a sample from the database." She said and he noted that she sounded almost too cheerful. It was always like this when she was on the right track.

"So, what it is?" He asked and stared on the screen that now presented small chemical structure. "Inorganic substance?" For a moment he tried to remember his chemistry class in high school, but that had been a long time ago.

"First I thought it was spot remover fluid, but then I noticed that there was an ionic bond instead of a hydrogen bond down here. I ran it on my spectro and remembered seeing it elsewhere today!" She typed on the computer and another graph came up on top of the structure. "It´s the same stuff that´s in Gibbs´ blood. It´s pretty volatile and started to dissolve already, but it´s definitely the same. Trichlormethane, Tony, that´s chloroform. Someone drugged him." Abby said and squealed in surprise when he hugged her.

"You´re a genius, Abby. We need more like that to get him out though, but it´s a start. Anything on the dirt tracks?" He asked and scribbled down more notes on what she had told him. "I need a print of those results for the file though."

"Sure thing. Oh, I ran those dirt samples from the sedan. Nothing unusual. There was something in it that looks like titan alloy and there´s a construction site between here and his house where they use it for something on the gas pipes. Nothing besides that. I think those guys at the police station are even worse than we thought. I found this under the driver seat." She held out a bag with brownish crumbles out to him. "It´s tobacco." She added and he raised an eyebrow.

"Gibbs doesn´t smoke -let alone allow anyone to smoke in his car. His addiction is caffein -everyone knows. How does that help us?" He asked while he took a sip from his cup, pulling a face as he tasted the stale, cold coffee from the day before.

"It was not just a bit of tobacco like as much as you could have stuck under your shoes, there was a whole lot. Like someone dropped it or it got spilled accidentally. I didn´t notice when I checked for the first time as it was under the mat, but when I went over it again, it just jumped at me." She told him and grinned widely. This was her day somehow. Everything seemed to go well all of the sudden, but she also knew that they would need some major evidence in his favor to get their boss cleared.

"Any match on the brand or something that´s odd about it?" Tony asked and handed the sample bag back to her. Things seemed to go better this morning and he hoped it would stay like this.

"I checked the database, nothing comparable within the US. I checked Mexico and Canada as well -nothing there either. I´m running international right now, but nothing so far. And I´m still on that shirt as well -ran 20 samples so far, but all matching Kate." She disappeared into the elevator again, bouncing slightly. Her mood seemed good and considering the results she had gotten, it was understandable.

Tony wrote it down in his notes and glanced at the paper. "I really need to get this sorted out... We have millions of pieces, but I can´t see the picture yet. That´s why I always hated jigsaw puzzles." He muttered and looked up when McGee put a large cup of coffee on his desk. "Thanks, that´s just what I need."

"I´ve been thinking about that cloth. Let´s just say someone really drugged Gibbs and took his car to attack Kate -where would he have left our boss? I mean, the blood was on his clothes, so he would have to be somewhere close when it happened, right?" McGee said as he took a large sip from his coffee. Normally, he couldn´t stand the extra strong blend, but today it didn´t taste so bad and was still too weak to fully wake him up.

Trying to sort through his notes, Tony had only half listened to his younger co-worker, but looked at him anyway. "Yeah, that´s odd. Did you ask Abby if she checked the trunk and other seats for anything? I´m going to go through those notes for a while, so why don´t you go and ask her?" Dinozzo offered and continued to write something on a new sheet. He remembered a case during his time in Baltimore that had been similar in complexity. It had taken them 3 full weeks to trace down the truedelinquent and that was with as much as10 people working on the case 24/7. On this one they were only three people, four if one counted Ducky in. There had to be something they were missing, something so vital that it could pull all those pieces into place at once, but this key remained hidden for the time being.

Abby returned to her lab, her mood having improved big times now. It felt good to finally see some bits of evidence that suggested that he had not done it. She had known that he was innocent from the start. For some reason, she dreaded the thought that she could have been at his house that night. She had decided to sleep at McGee´s place that night after the party and wondered what would have been different if she had been with Gibbs instead. Putting those thoughts off, she started another analysis on the shirt, slowly cutting it up inch by inch. Normally, nobody would be so thorough on a shirt in a case that looked as clear as this one, but she didn´t mind to work through the night again. The day was slowly drawing to an end, but Abby knew that she would have another sleepover at the office tonight.


	7. More Traces

Hidden Enemy

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Someone attacks Kate, almost killing her. Why is her blood found on Gibbs´ shirt and just why is his DNA under her nails?

---------------------------------------------

7- More traces

McGee walked into the lab the following morning after another night under his desk, finding Abby in front of her computer again. She didn´t look like she had slept much. "Hey, Abby." He greeted her and was rewarded by a yawn.

"Oh, hi. What you here for? I don´t have anything on that tobacco yet, maybe it´s homegrown." She said and got up slowly. Her desk was filled with notes and empty evidence bags. Most hadn´t been there the night before, so he figured that she had worked most of the night again.

He explained to her what he had told Tony before and she agreed to return to the garage and check both cars again. "From those stains, Gibbs was standing right outside the driver side door. I ran a simulation with the information I got from you and Ducky yesterday. There is no other place he could have been, so if he didn´t do it, he must have stood right in front of the person who did, but that would be not really logical." She explained and showed him the little program on the plasma screen.

"Looks odd. If he was drugged, do you think he could have done it without remembering?" He asked, but she shook her head.

"No way. Chloroform is going at the central nervous system -he wouldn´t have been able to stand, let alone stab anyone like Kate. She surely defended herself." Abby replied and pulled gloves on. "Let´s say someone drugged him and dropped him into his car. I´ve seen people who were rendered unconscious by medication and most of them start drooling. All right, Tony already drools when he falls asleep, but let´s not go into details right now. There´s a special kind of bacteria in human salvia that will show up under UV light when they have been exposed to the air for a certain amount of time." She dug out a lamp and switched the main lights in the hall off.

McGee was surprised by this. "Glowing bacteria? Yikes, that´s so disgusting, Abby." He said and followed her to the car. The UV lamp was giving off an eerie violet light.

"Get over it, they don´t glow when they´re in your mouth, Tim. When they´re exposed to the atmosphere for more than 10 hours, they start to produce some metabolic byproduct that glows under UV light. It´s sometimes even mistaken for some other fluid..." She grinned knowingly and opened the trunk. Nothing except for some white fibers showed up and they moved on to the inside of the car. The backseat didn´t give them any clue, but when Abby ran the lamp over the passenger seat, a spot on the right side next to the headrest started to glow in a yellowish color. With a wide grin, she swapped the spot, making sure that some of the substance got caught on the cotton stick.

When the lights in the hall came back to life, McGee was smiling as well. "How long will it take to see if that´s his DNA on that seat?" He asked and followed her towards the lab.

"Not long, but long enough for you to run out to the store...I need some caffein, Tim. Please!" Abby looked at him with puppy eyes and he turned around towards the elevator to take a short trip to the store at the corner. He had been thinking about getting sandwiches for lunch and took this chance to get some.

Half and hour later, he almost crashed into Abby when he stood in front of the elevator with a bag of food and a large cup of caf-pow. She bolted out into the bullpen with a piece of paper in her hand. Tony was still at his desk, his hair messed up from the number of times he had run his hand through it. He looked up when Abby slammed a piece of paper down in front of him.

"There was something on the passenger seat. UV said it was probably salvia and I ran it for DNA. It´s definitely Gibbs´ DNA on that headrest." She looked at him for some sign of understanding. "Tony, wake up! How could Gibbs drool on his passenger seat? There´s nobody except for him driving that sedan. He´d never let anyone get near it, you know how he is about it." She went on and his eyes finally widened.

"Okay, slow down, Abby. There´s drool on the passenger seat that´s his. So maybe someone drove the car while he was drugged and drooling away on the passenger seat, but what about the blood on his clothes? Can´t he just have slept on the passenger seat?" He asked and looked at her. Abby simply shrugged and grabbed the drink from McGee.

"I have no clue. I´ll keep checking on that tobacco and the shirt, but I can´t do magic, Tony. I´m just picking up the pieces -it´s your job to get the picture." She said and disappeared into the elevator again. It was going to be another long day.

Tony sighed and picked up his notes. "We need to check with Ducky if we can continue interrogation with Gibbs today. Maybe he can tell us something about that tobacco." He pulled his backpack up and dropped his notes into it. They headed out for the parking lot a few minutes later. "Hey, Ducky. Can we go and ask him some more questions? Really, cool, thanks." Tony put his phone away again. "Kate´s doing better. She´s still unconscious, but slowly stabilizing. We can go ahead and continue interrogation. They are still keeping Gibbs for observation -he is not happy about it."

They arrived at the hospital and finished their sandwiches in the parking lot before going in. Tony insisted on eating something before facing Gibbs. He wasn´t sure if he could eat anything solid afterwards. Gibbs´ mood was going to be on a historical all-time low after being arrested and stuck at a hospital for more than two days on top of that. McGee went to see Kate for a moment while, saying that it was unnecessary to endanger both their lives for this interrogation. He didn´t actually mind being slapped on the back of his head by Tony as he turned back towards the elevator.

When Tony entered the room, he immediately knew that it wasn´t going to be easy. He also knew that he would not need to eat through a straw for the next days. The sight of his boss handcuffed to the rail of the bed hurt more than he had expected. The guard stayed inside the room as well to make sure everything was going smooth. "I just got some more questions. Okay?" Dinozzo asked as he sat down on a chair next to the bed.

"Well, let´s hear them." Gibbs replied, his eyes dark and sad. The sparkling that was normally in those blue eyes was gone completely. He felt uncomfortable in this situation, but he knew that there was nothing he could do to change it at the moment. He wanted this whole messed sorted out soon.

"Okay, did you ever let anyone else drive your car?" Tony asked and got a very puzzled look. He knew that he would have been rewarded for this question by a slap on the back of his head if Gibbs had not been handcuffed.

"No, I didn´t." The answer came after a few seconds and it sounded pretty much like he was getting pissed off by this interrogation already.

"Do you smoke?" The next question came and Tony watched his jaw dropping to the floor. A fire started burning in those blue eyes now, but it was only from anger.

"Have you ever seen me smoke?" Gibbs fired back at him immediately. He hated questions where the answers were obvious enough. Tony should know him well enough to answer those questions himself. He calmed down after a few seconds. "No, I don´t smoke." He added quickly when he noticed the pained look in Dinozzo´s eyes.

"All right... Did you ever order tobacco from outside the US?" He asked and just got negative answer for this as well. It was enough for now and he felt good with those answers. They confirmed their theory that this was a frame-up, but it wasn´t enough to clear him yet. "That´s all for now, thanks." He said and smiled a bit, trying to let his boss know that they were on the right track. The look in those blue eyes really hurt him though and he left the room quickly.

Tony met with McGee out in the hallway. "How´s Kate?" He asked immediately and saw a little smile on his colleagues face.

"Still unconscious, but they´re talking about taking her off the respirator tomorrow. Abby just called, she said we have to come back immediately. She found something on that shirt or something, but the results are still pending." McGee said and they headed out for the parking lot.


	8. Mr X

Hidden Enemy

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Someone attacks Kate, almost killing her. Why is her blood found on Gibbs´ shirt and just why is his DNA under her nails?

---------------------------------------------

8- Mr. X

The drive back was rather quiet. Both men could feel the strain of the last two days, but they were willing to keep going. They would stay at the office as long as it took. They had done 3 days in a row before, but this seemed a bit different. Basically it was just a matter of discipline and the ability to sleep on hard surfaces, along with an ironclad stomach that could digest fast food for a long time. This time an emotional strain added to these physical challenges, making it anything but easier.

They walked into the lab, finding Abby in the lab. There was some music playing, not as loud as it usually was, but definitely a sign that her mood was improving. Tony shut the music off and she turned around to face them. "What do you have?" He asked and she held up a sample bag.

"I checked the shirt again and found this. It was caught on the inside, probably stuck to a button and got ripped out somehow." She said and put an enhanced image onto the big plasma screen. "It´s a black hair, probably from the chest of a man, like the position on the shirt suggests. I´m going to run it through the thermocycler and match the DNA, but I´m sure it will not match Gibbs this time."

McGee threw a questioning look at her. "How do you know?" He asked and continued to look at the image for a few seconds. It looked like some hair from someone -how could she be so sure it wasn´t from Gibbs?

Abby had a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. "I´m not sure if you´ve seen Gibbs without shirt, but I can assure you that our silver haired fox is just as gray on his chest as he is on his head. This is pitch black, Tony..." She grinned and noted the look in his eyes. "Don´t even go there. You didn´t have to put that bandage on him when he cracked a rib in the gym a while ago. Those pleasant jobs usually end up in my department when Ducky is not here."

Tony felt his head spinning. He hadn´t slept much and it took him a moment to process all those information. "He was unconscious when she was attacked, but..." He paused a moment, trying to clear his mind and get everything sorted out..

"That means someone wore his clothes when Kate was stabbed? What about prints?" McGee´s voice was heard from behind them. He was standing next to his desk, obviously excited about these news. The pieces slowly formed a picture in his head. It was still blurred and not very clear on some parts, but they finally seemed to get somewhere.

"None, must have worn gloves. I think he might have worn a jumpsuit under the clothes, there was some blue fabric on the inside of the shirt. Maybe it had a hole or something, I don´t really know how that hair got there, because whoever did this to Kate was a pro. My thermocycler broke down after I ran the 30th blood sample this afternoon. A service technician is on the way, but I probably won´t get anything until really late tonight."

The rest of the day went in a haze. Tony and McGee tried to put the pieces together, but they never got to any conclusion that seemed rational. Morrow dropped in twice as they were discussing the new evidence. He seemed much more confident about this case now, but still needed more evidence that Gibbs had indeed been framed for this attack. Knowing that his agent had been drugged was only one piece of this large puzzle.

Around 8 pm, Abby announced that she wouldn´t get the spare parts for her thermocycler until the next morning. They considered crashing at someone´s place, but ended up sleeping at the office again, since none of them felt like leaving. Ducky returned from the hospital around 10 pm and found them asleep in the bullpen. Abby had curled up under Kate´s desk for the time being and slept peacefully. Mallard left again and drove home, still trying to make up his mind on this whole thing. He couldn´t think of a reason to frame someone like this. It was not only hurting the person accused, it hurt the whole team. He felt that it was a heavy burden left on the shoulders of those young people. Of course, they had been trained to solve cases like this, but nobody had prepared them for a situation like the current one.

The following morning, Abby was woken by a technician who had the spare parts for her. She went down to the lab and had the black hair running in the thermocycler around 8 am. It would take about an hour to get a result, so she went out to get coffee for her colleagues and a cup of caf-pow for herself. A few more days like this and she knew that all of them would be ready to collapse on the spot. She already felt her concentration slipping, but knowing what was at stake, she didn´t really pay attention to those first signs of exhaustion. She had known Gibbs for most of her life and wasn´t going to let him down now that he needed all help he could get.

When Abby returned from the coffee store, she woke Tony and McGee. They looked just like she felt and accepted the coffee gratefully. As she returned to the lab, two messages had come up on her computer. There were two results in, one on the tobacco, one on the hair. She looked at the result from the tobacco first and frowned slightly. This was not what she had expected and it didn´t make much sense for the time being. She hit another button to view the result on the hair and the cup of caf-pow slipped from her grip. The liquid pooled all over the floor, but she didn´t care right now.

Sending the information up to the bullpen via e-mail, she bolted out of the lab, not even bothering to wait for the elevator. Both men stared at her in surprise when she ran in and almost shoved McGee out of his chair to get to his computer. "Hey, what happened?" Tony inquired, but she shook her head for a moment, which was a sign that she had to concentrate on something for a moment.

"I got a match for that hair from inside the shirt plus I got a result on that tobacco." She finally managed and typed something on the keyboard that would load the file to the big plasma screen. "I´m not sure if you´re ready for this, but here´s the first bit. That tobacco is only sold in Israel. That didn´t make much sense, but then I got the result on the black hair that was stuck inside the shirt. I doubt that Gibbs would voluntarily share his clothes with anyone, but the least with our Mr. X." She said and pressed a button on the keyboard.

The big plasma sprang to life and they stared into a very familiar face. Tony swore under his breath and jumped up immediately. "Abby, call Morrow and show him this." He ordered and grabbed his jacket as he raced out to the parking lot. "Ducky, are you at the hospital? Damn... get there now, someone´s after Kate." He told Mallard on the phone while jumping into the car. McGee took the passenger seat and buckled up as they tore out of the parking lot to get to the hospital.


	9. One Second Late

Hidden Enemy

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Someone attacks Kate, almost killing her. Why is her blood found on Gibbs´ shirt and just why is his DNA under her nails?

---------------------------------------------

9- One second late

A man dressed in a white suit walked down the hallway, trying not to draw much attention to his presence. The ID hanging on his shirt identified him as someone working in this ward of the hospital. Nobody seemed to take more than just the casual note of his presence. A little smile played on his lips as he remembered the body locked up in the morgue. They wouldn´t find him for a while, those drawers were rarely used at all. It had been so easy to talk him into coming down, so easy to make his head snap and dispose of the body.

He walked into the nurse´s room and took a glance at the floor plan. He had been waiting close to the apartment after setting up his trap. He had watched the man blanching after discovering the body in the car. Much to his surprise, she wasn´t dead though. This was not how he had planned it in the first place, but he would finish it now. In his pocket lay a syringe holding a small amount of a very deadly poison that was almost impossible to trace. They would find her passed away from a stroke, which was very unfortunate indeed.

"Oh, good to see you. Would you take this to the laboratory, please?" A nurse handed him a tray full of blood samples and motioned him to hurry. Sighing slightly, he walked out and towards the elevator. His cover would blow if he didn´t follow these orders and he couldn´t afford to fail. She knew what he really was and if she managed to tell anyone, he was in trouble. Dropping the samples off at the lab, he returned to the ward and walked down to the door with a large 364 on it. Nobody saw him slip in and he allowed himself a moment to take in his surroundings after the door clicked shut behind him.

The only occupied bed in the room stood close to the window. A spare bed was near the door, covered with a plastic sheet. Shades were drawn down enough to shield her face from the sun. There were IV lines and tubes running all over her body and he looked at her pale features for a few seconds. Humming a soft melody he had been taught by his father, he approached the bed. He pulled the syringe out and ran his finger over her face. "Too bad you had to find out, Katie...too bad you couldn´t just let me be." He whispered and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

The sound of the monitors filled his ears for a short moment. He noticed that the respirator was gone -another sign that he had to act quickly before she regained consciousness. "It´s goodbye now, Katie. It could have been different, you know, but..." He didn´t finish his sentences as something hit his head from behind all of the sudden. The syringe dropped to the ground and rolled under the bed, out of his immediate reach.

"You bastard!"A manstood behind him, an IV pole raised above his head. He was about to strike a second time when he was kicked back. He dropped the pole and fell over the spare bed. "Don´t you dare to touch her, Haswari." Gibbs growled as he pulled himself up again. The fall had left him in a considerable amount of pain, but he wasn´t going to give in.

"Special agent Gibbs, what a pleasure we meet again." Ari sneered and launched himself at the older man, trying to get a hold of his neck to snap it. He was surprised by the resistance he met. He had underestimated the agent -despite of his age, he could still put on a good fight. Ari wasn´t sure if it was really a fight or just the fear for his life that gave the older man such energy to deflect his hits.

Both rolled over the ground, knocking into the different pieces of furniture. Gibbs fought back hard, trying to keep Ari´s hands away from his neck. He knew that he was dead if the younger man got a hold of him. After almost pinning Haswari to the ground, he received a kick into the chest and slid back, his head and back making contact with the wall. Colors were dancing in front of his eyes and he couldn´t muster the strength to get up again. His vision was blurred for a moment. When it cleared again, he saw Haswari getting up with a wide grin on his face. "It´s even better like this, you know that, Gibbs? You get to watch how your precious agent will die from a terrible stroke." The younger man said as he wiped a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth.

Gibbs struggled to sit up, but his shoulder hurt badly and he could hardly breathe. He was forced to watch how Haswari retrieved the syringe from under the bed. The needle glistened in the sunlight. Only half a second later a shot rang out from the door and the surprised man dropped to his knees, syringe still in his hand. A second shot hit his back and he collapsed on the floor.

There were voices calling something at each other, but Gibbs didn´t really hear what they said. The pain in his chest was still requiring most of his attention. Someone kneeled down next to him, looking rather worried. "For once, not one second too late, Dinozzo." He managed through clenched teeth when he recognized the face hovering above him.

"That´s new..." A faint voice from the bed could be heard and everyone spun around. Kate smiled weakly at her colleagues, wondering what was going on. She had woken from the shots, but was still too dazed to realize what had just happened.

"I thought it was time for a change." Tony told her with a wide smile and watched how she slowly fell asleep again after a few seconds. She needed to rest now, but knowing that she would be okay made him forget everything that had happened during the last three days. Tony pulled the body out from under the bed and dragged him into the hallway for Ducky to pick up. Chaos had already broken loose when he and McGee had stormed into the hospital with their guns drawn, but both knew it could have ended differently if Gibbs hadn´t reacted so quickly.


	10. Visitor

Hidden Enemy

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Someone attacks Kate, almost killing her. Why is her blood found on Gibbs´ shirt and just why is his DNA under her nails?

---------------------------------------------

10- Visitor

Tony and McGee returned to the office after making sure that Kate was okay and Gibbs was taken care off as well. Kate had been moved to a different room and Ari´s body had been taken to morgue. They would have a lot to finish off. Abby was waiting for them as they returned. She hugged both in turns. "We really did it!" She exclaimed and smiled widely.

It was only noon and both agents started on their reports. Morrow dropped in about three hours later, telling them that they had done well and that Gibbs had been cleared of all charges immediately after discovering the frame-up, which was why he had been able to intercept Ari before he could harm Kate. Paperwork for this case was really a lot -they had more requests for evidence re-evaluation and analysis sheets than ever before. With both Gibbs and Kate out, it would take them forever. McGee got them some coffee and sandwiches. Tony had just taken one bite from his when a familiar voice sounded from the elevator. "Don´t you dare to drop any relish on that report, Dinozzo."

Both looked up and saw their boss and Ducky coming in. Gibbs was limping quite a bit and his left arm was in a sling. The cut on his head had been stitched and his face was bruised. "I tried to talk him into a few days of leave, but..." The doctor started and got a darting look from his friend. He disappeared into the elevator again and waited for the doors to close.

"I told you there´s too much to do, Duck, if you would excuse us now." Gibbs dropped onto his chair and pulled a face. "Kate will be back in a week, so if you want to live up to that, you better get going." He ordered and pretended to read something until he heard the elevator close again. "Are you going to do it all by yourself or will you give me something to work on?" He asked and met puzzled faces.

"Boss, you should really go home. It´s enough to have you passing out on me once a week." Tony said, but handed him a report to proofread. He ducked away, fearing that he might receive a slap to the back of his head again, but none came.

Gibbs smiled a bit, at least as much as he could without the bruises hurting him. "I´m not planning on it. So, will you tell me how you found out it was Ari?" He asked and both men grinned.

"Actually, it was Abby who found out." McGee said and was interrupted by an outcry from the other side of the bullpen.

"Gibbs!" Abby came running in from the staircase and flung herself around his neck, causing him to wince in pain. She backed up a bit. "Oh, sorry, bossman. Wow...Ari really got you good, didn´t he?" She then asked and carefully examined the bruises on his face. She noticed the questioning looks on the faces of McGee and Dinozzo.

"Stop staring. I thought there was some more paperwork to finish." Gibbs said and winked at Abby. He wasn´t going to keep them here all day long. The strain in their features told him enough to know that they had spent too much time here already. As he watched both men concentrating on their reports, he looked at Abby. "Now, when was the last time anyone of you slept?"

She smiled a bit. "Last night, boss-man." She replied with a smile and their eyes met.

"Abbs, in a bed." He told her and tried to read her eyes. She was almost the only one who could hide her feelings about as good as he could do it himself. It was hard to read her when she didn´t want him to. Today it was rather easy though as she seemed too tired to stand his gaze.

"I don´t really remember...Hey, Tony, did we sleep at home yesterday or was it the day before that?" She called at Dinozzo, who looked up.

"Uhm, wait a second... I think it was on Monday, after that party, but I wouldn´t place a bet on it." He replied and noticed the confused look on Gibbs´ face.

Gibbs looked at them in turns. Of course, he knew that they had worked hard on this case -Ducky had told him, but he had not expected this. It explained why all three of them looked like hell. It explained why Tony had seemed absentminded during the last interrogation at the hospital. And it explained the damage on his car. "You´re going home right now -all of you." He said and pulled himself up from his chair. Three pairs of eyes looked at him. "Was there anything that made it sound like a suggestion?" He snapped at them and saw a little smile on Abby´s face.

"No way, wonderful wizard. Except when you´re going home as well." She told him and crossed her arms in front of her chest. The look in her eyes told him that she wasn´t joking and when he looked around for help from his two agents, he met the same gaze. "Now, deal or no deal?" Abby insisted and continued to look at him.

Gibbs sighed and smiled. "Okay, okay, you win, but I don´t want to see any of you in here before Monday." He said and walked back to the elevator. He didn´t notice the figure slipping into the elevator right behind him before the doors closed.


	11. A Secret

11- A Secret

Abby caught up with him shortly before the doors closed. "Am I right to believe that you need a ride? Oh, I´m not sure how the house looks...those police people went through almost everything." She told him and he rolled his eyes, but she simply ignored it for now. "Hey, no problem. I´ll take you home and get the house sorted out while you get some rest." Abby said, feeling anything but tired at the moment. The point where one was tired and ready to sleep had passed a long time ago. She knew that he had no choice but to accept her offer. She just knew him too well.

Arriving at the house, Abby walked up to the front door and unlocked it. It wasn´t unusual to her that she had the key to his house. They were more than just co-workers and it was anything but random that she was working with him. Nobody knew about her secret except for Gibbs and she knew that he would never tell anyone. The house looked a lot better than she had expected. Only a few dirt tracks lead through the hallway and into the livingroom.

Gibbs dropped onto the couch, groaning when he moved his injured shoulder a bit. He wasn´t actually tired as he had slept a lot during the last day. He watched her clean up most of the dirt. "Abbs, stop cleaning, you´re going to drop dead if you don´t get some rest." He told her after a while and she sat down next to him.

"If you say so, boss." She replied and put her head on his shoulder. She was careful not to touch his bruised ribs or hurt his shoulder even more. After a moment she found a comfortable position and smiled as she listened to his heart beating. It was the one thing that could always make her calm down.

"Abbs, we´ve been through this before. It´s not like you haven´t usedmy first namebefore." He said and smiled when she nestled up close to him. He remembered the day they had met for the first time. It had been a dark and very painful day, but watchingher now so close to him, he knew that his patience had paid out.

"Okay...if you insist." She murmured and opened her eyes again. "You know what makes me wonder?" She then asked and looked into his blue eyes.

"What, Abbs?" He replied and put his right arm around her. For a short moment, he saw young girl he had known a long time ago in front of his inner eye.

"What would happen if anyone ever found out about us?" She asked and snuggled closer, her eyes slowly closing. Finally, exhaustion was claiming its toll and she was more than willing to pay it.

"I don´t know. I´ve been wondering about it once in a while. One day they will, but not yet, Abby. For now, you need to sleep." He said and watched her fall asleep. Gibbs knew that he would have to tell someone about it at some point, but not yet. Ever since he had seen her for the very first time, he had sensed that she was something special. When that fateful day in October almost 20 years ago had come around, he had not hesitated for a second, eventhough he had known that it would change his life. The events of that day had resulted in his resignation from the marine corps and landed him at NCIS. It had changed his life in many aspects, but he had never regretted making this promise all those years ago.

With this memory, he dozed off as well, sleeping peacefully as he knew that Kate would recover and he had not been responsible for anything. The recent events would follow all of them for a while, but eventually, things would return to normal at some point. After all, he now knew how close the team was and it was a good thing to his mind. Some time, he would tell them about the little secret, but right now all of them needed time to recover.

END


	12. Author´s note

There is a sequel to this story called "Changes". It will explain the questions that might have come up in the last chapter of this story.


End file.
